Connector



Feb, 22, T1949. 2,462,22?

L. E. SAUER CONNECTOR Filed Oct. 12, 1944 WITNESSES: INVENTOR v 1 '15s 01:5. auer ATTOR EY Patented Feb. 22, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFi-cr:

1C0NNECTOR Louis E, Sauer, Sharon, Pa., assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa.,'a corporation of Pennsylvania Application October 12, 1944, SerialNo..5.5.8,*305

4 Claims.

.lengthwisealong its axis in connecting and disconnecting ,such cables if the .cable iso'fan appreciable size. .It has become the common prac' .tice, therefore, to-loosenor remove the terminal bushing insulators through which .the cable conductors are brought into such apparatus when it becomes :necessary to connect the terminal conductors within the apparatus. This necessitates the removal of the liquid insulating fluid or oil from the switch .or pothead chamber or other apparatus and breaking the gasket seals between the insulator bushings and the casing of theapparatus. .A number ofinstanceshave occurred where these gasket seals, so removed,

have not been properly replaced or the interior .of the casing has :been contaminated by atmospheric moisture entering through the. opening in the casingprovidedforaccommodating the bushing, .or by dust. or other impurities getting into the casing and causing failure in the .electrical apparatus. Furthermore, this practice requires thatspare gaskets be provided, since inremoving the bushings frequently the gasket is destroyed, requiring that, .it be replaced by a .new one. This practice also requires considerable labor. a

It is an object of the .inventionto provide a connector for electrical conductors in which the conductor =ends may be connected without anpreciableaxial movement of the mating parts and in which a high pressure contact between them isreadilyobtained.

tother objects-andadvantagesof the invention will be -.appar,ent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure lis anelevational View of a transformer pothead in which the connector .of my invention is adapted .to be usedwith "the pothead cover removed;

.Fig. 2.is.a view, partly insection, showing the two parts of thelconnector in their disconnected or-displaced'positions and Fig. 3 is a view, partly in'section, showing the two parts of the connectorin their assembled or connected positions.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawing, a pothead casing l is shown with its cover removed. A three-phase cable .2 enters the pothead casing, through a pressure cone 3. The three separate phase conductors 4 fan out within the pothead and a portion of cable insulation 5 is removed from the end of each cable conductor-6 to permit the attachment of one end of aconnector, the other end of which is connected toa terminal stud 8 extending through the terminal bushing 9 of the transformerrpotheador switch chamber casing.

Theconnector l is shown in greater detailin Figs. 2 and 3. As shown, the terminal stud 8 comprising the conducting element passing through the bushing 9 terminates in a flat end surface l2. The cylindricalend of the stud 8 is-screW-threaded, as shown'at 13, for a distance back from the end 12 to accommodate a differential nut. 14 having a bore centrally therethrough provided with internal screw threads adapted to engage the threads [.3 on the stud 8. The differential nut I4 is also provided with screw threads l5 on the lower outer portion thereof that are adapted for engaging the screw threads l6 provided on the interior surface of the borethrough coupling nut 11.

A cable terminal 2| isprovided forming the end portion of the conducting member of the cable 6 and is soldered, brazed, clamped or otherwise attached to the end of the conductor of cable-.6. The upper part of the cable terminal 2| is in the form of a cylindrical stud '22 terminating in a flat surface 23, and is provided with external screw threads24 that mesh with the threads l5 .orovidedon the inner surface of the bore extending through the .couplingnut l1.

When it is desired to couple the two parts shown in Fig. 2 together, the differential nut 84 is screwed back on the threads l3 to expose the flat end 12 of the stud .8 below the lower endof the differentialnut, and the coupling nut i1 is screwedonto the stud portion 22 of the terminal 2| to expose the upper end thereof above the upperend of the coupling nut IT. This is the position of the differential nut l4 and coupling nut l1 shown in Fig. 2. The two :portions of the conductor to be connected are then moved relatively to each other so that the surfaces l2 and 23 on the .ends of the respective studs v8 and 22 are adjacent one another. In the structure shown in Fig. 1, the lower-portion alone is moved to bring the two parts into alignment. The coupling nut I1 is then turned to move upwardly on the threads 24 and to engage the threads I on the outside of the differential nut I4 until the surfaces I2 and 23 on the two studs are positioned well between the opposite ends of the coupling nut I1.

Flat surfaces 26 are provided'on the coupling nut I! so that a tool may be applied thereto for this purpose, and flat surfaces 21 are likewise provided on an enlarged portion of the cable terminal 2 I so that a tool may be applied thereto to prevent the cable terminal from turning with the coupling nut II,

Flat surfaces 28 are likewise provided on the upper end of the differential nut I4 for turning this nut, which, when now turned to move downwardly along the threads I3 on the stud 8, while the stud 8, stud 22, and the coupling I! remain stationary against rotation, operates in a manner.

to be presently described.

The number of threads I3 per unit length on the inside of the differential nut I4 is greater than the number of threads I5 per unit length on the outside of the differential nut I4. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, five turns of the thread I5 cover about the same vertical distance as six turns of the thread I 3. As a result, the ends I2 and 23 may be placed in proximity within the coupling nut I I, and the differential nut I4 is then turned so as to move downwardly or further into the coupling nut I1, thus moving the end surface I2 downwardly at a rate less than the rate of movement of the nut I4, bringing'the surface I2 on the lower end of the stud 8 tightly into engagement with the surface 23 at the upper end of the stud 22. If, as has been assumed for the purposes of illustration, five turns of the thread I5 correspond to the same vertical distance as six turns of the thread I3, then when the differential nut I4 is moved a vertical distance corresponding to. five turns Of the thread I5, the end I2 of the stud 8 will have been moved a vertical distance corresponding to one turn of the thread I3.

Stated in another way, the threads I3 within the bore of the differential nut I4 have a lesser pitch; that is, they advance a lesser distance per turn of the thread, than do the threads I5 on the outside of the nut I4, so that, for a given length of the nut there will be more turns of the thread I3 than of the thread I5. With this differential pitch of the threads on the inside and outside, respectively, of the differential nut I4,

'there will result a relative movement between the studs 8 and 22 that is much less than the relative vertical movement of the differential nut I4 and the stud 22. This assumes, of course, that when the nut I4 is so rotated, the-stud 8, the stud 22, and the differential nut I! do not rotate.

It will be appreciated that by the use of the coupling structure disclosed the two cable ends illustrated may readily be connected or disconnected without appreciable axial or vertical movement of either the stud 8 or the stud 22, and

that when connected, the tight connection bement to be connected having a flat contact end surface and external screw threads adjacent the flat end surface thereof, a coupling nut having a bore therethrough provided with internal screwthreads adapted to engage the screw-threaded portion of the first conductor element, a second conductorelement to be connected also having a flat contact end surface 'and a screw-threaded portion adjacent the flat end surface thereof, the screw threaded portion of the second conductor element having a smaller diameter than the screw threaded portion of the first named conductor element, a differential nut having a bore therethrough and screw threads on the surface of the bore adapted to engage the screw threads adjacent the end of the second conductor element, the differential nut also having screw threads on its exterior adapted to engage within the bore of the coupling nut, the screw threads within the bore of the differential nut and thescrew threads on the exterior of the differential nut having a differential pitch such that when the diiferential nut is rotated with respect to the two conductor elements and thecoupling nut, a relative movement of the end surfaces 'of the two conductor elements will be effected to bring then into tight engagement or to separate them as desired.

2. In a connector for connecting two conductor elements, in combination, a first conductor element to be connected having a flat contact end surface and a screw-threaded portionadjacent the flat end surface thereof, a coupling nut having a bore therethrough provided with screwthreads internally therethrough adapted to enflat end surface thereof, the screw-threaded portion of the second conductor element having a smaller diameter than the screw-threaded end of the first conductor element,a differential nut having a screw-threaded bore therethrough, the screw threads within the bore being adapted to engage the screw threads adjacent the end of the second conductor element, the differential nut also having screw threads on its exterior adapted to engage the screw threads within the bore of the coupling nut, the screw threads within the bore of the differential nut having a lesser pitch than the screw threads on the exterior of the differential nut so that when the differential nut is rotated with respect to both the second conductor element and with respect to the coupling nut the second conductor element will move in the same direction as the differential nut with respect to the coupling nut and at a different rate to effect a relative movement of the flat surfaces on the ends of the two conductor elements to bring them into tight engagement or to separate them as desired.

3. In combination, a connector for connecting two conductor elements each having a cylindrical end portion terminating in fiat contact end surface of the bore adapted to engage the screw threads of the conductor element having the smaller diameter and extending throughout the length of the bore, said difierential nut also having screw threads on its exterior adapted to engage the screw threads within the bore of the coupling nut, the screw threads within the bore of the differential nut being adapted to engage the screw threads of the conductor element, the difierence in the pitch of the threads on the 0utside and inside of the differential nut being such that when the difierential nut is rotated with respect to the conductor elements and the coupling nut a relative movement of the end surfaces of the two conductor elements will be efiected to bring them into tight engagement or to separate them as desired.

4. In a connector for connecting two conductor elements, in combination, a first conductor element to be connected having a flat contact end surface and external screw threads adjacent the flat end surface thereof, a coupling nut having a bore therethrough provided with internal screw threads adapted to engage the screw-threaded portion of the first conductor element, a second conductor element to be connected also having a flat contact end surface and a screw-threaded portion adjacent the fiat end surface thereof, the screw-threaded portion of the second conductor element having a lesser diameter than the screwthreaded portion of the first named conductor element, a difierential nut having a. bore there- 6 through and provided with both external and internal screw threads thereon, the screw threads within the bore of the difierential nut being adapted to engage the screw threads adjacent the end of the second conductor element and the screw threads on the exterior of the differential nut being adapted to engage the screw threads within the bore of the coupling nut, the screw threads within the bore of the differential nut and the screw threads on the exterior of the differential nut having a differential pitch such that when the differential nut is threaded about the threads on the second conductor element and into the coupling nut, the second conductor element will be advanced into the coupling nut at a slower rate than that of the difierential nut and into tight engagement with the first conductor element.

' LOUIS E. SAUER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain Mar. 3, 1904 Number Number 

